Spanish Lottery

I was lucky again last week. I won 104€ on La Primitiva. I won 96€ on it a few weeks back. I think I've spent about the same as I've won if you take it all into account but it gives me a bit of excitement for 5 minutes while I check the results. (And normally a bit of disappointment immediately afterwards).

How to Play the Spanish Lottery

There are 2 choices if you want to play the lottery in Gran Canaria. First of all you can go into a lottery shop. Alternatively you can buy a ticket from one of the lottery sellers who walks around. The lottery is a bit thing here and most Canarians love a flutter!


Photo by Alvy

With La Primitiva, which is the one I usually play, you pay 2€ per line and you get 1€ if the "reintegro" comes up (an extra number), 8€ for 3 numbers and varying amounts for more than 3 numbers in a line.

There are others too, such as El Bono and the Euro Millions. With the current pounds to euros exchange rate and the quietness here it is causing, a win would be much appreciated!

Checking Your Numbers

I check the La Primitiva results here and you can click on "ver" which means "see". Alternatively you can go to the lottery shop where you got the ticket to check the numbers. You can probably watch the draw live but I don't watch Spanish TV so I wouldn't know! I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow night though... I have 6 lines... maybe a hat trick for me!

Pounds to Euros Exchange Rate

Right now the exchange rate is still pretty poor. I remember a couple of years ago you would get 60€ for 40 pounds. Now it's pretty much 1:1.



I took that photo today in the Europa Centre. No wonder so many people are booking all inclusive holidays to Gran Canaria so they don't have to spend much when they are here.

Goddamn Touts!

If there is one thing that everyone on holiday in Gran Canaria complains about it's the touts. You can't walk down some streets without getting hassled to buy cameras, flashing Chinese junk, roses or timeshares. Of course the touts don't say "excuse me, would you like to buy a 25,000€ timeshare sir?" You are more likely to hear, "oi mate, you bin to the new shoppin' centre yet?" or "where you from?"

Possibly the worst place for touts is walking from the beach in Puerto Rico to the harbour because on one side of the street you have timeshare touts (see above) and on the other side of the street you either have the timeshare touts who chase you from the first side of the street or the Indian camera salesmen, whose rather basic sales technique is as follows:

1. Leaps in front of you.
2. Tries to grab your hand, wrist or arm.
3. Says, "Sony camera, five euros?" while trying to drag you into their shop.

If you are lucky enough to avoid no.2 they are likely to block your path and force you into the road. If you cross the road you are back in the clutches of the timeshare touts. Now you see why this is like running a gauntlet.

Photo by Rune T

The best technique (works for me) is to put earphones into your ears (it doesn't matter whether they are connected to an mp3 player!) and pretend to be listening to music. Keep your hands in your pockets (unless you are wearing a thong, bikini or pocketless pair of trunks in which case keep your hands out of them). Walk with your eyes fixed straight ahead.

Better still, wear jeans, trainers and a La Puta Madre tee shirt. Then they will think you are a Canarian and leave you alone (never mind the 35ºC heat). This won't work if you are wearing a bumbag, sporting a bright red sunburn or carrying a copy of The Sun.

The Most Common Questions I Hear

I work on a sea fishing sales desk in Puerto Escala, one of the harbours in Puerto Rico. These are the top 5 questions I hear every day:

1. Are you from Gran Canaria then? (Do I look or sound like it?)
2. Do you live here? (No, I fly in from England every morning)
3. Do you like it? (No, I hate it, that's why I've been here 10 years)
4. Don't you get sick of the warm weather? (Er, no).
5. Don't you ever go home? (I am home, I live here)
   

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my humble little blog (soon to become massive and famous...possibly). I am going to write about my life on Gran Canaria, the day to day strangeness which has somehow become the norm for us ex pats and perhaps a few little tips that you might want to bear in mind if you are going to come and visit our little island.